S18b: Best Practices in Community Outreach Efforts at the Secondary and Postsecondary Levels

In the chemical sciences, it is becoming increasingly difficult to engage and maintain motivation in students to pursue study in a discipline that suffers considerably from negative stereotyping in the general population. This bias is reflected by a professional workforce that, despite significant efforts and noteworthy progress, still fails to track the diversity of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds present in broader society. Community-based efforts that directly and indirectly confront chemophobia while providing positive examples of chemistry’s contributions to our world offer perhaps the best opportunity to capture the interest and imagination of students who might otherwise dismiss chemistry out of hand. The focus of this symposium is to highlight effective chemistry outreach efforts involving students, faculty, and staff at the secondary and postsecondary levels. We look forward to hearing the successes and challenges that you have faced in your outreach efforts, including those projects involving events at high schools and colleges targeted at these student populations as well as efforts taking place in the community that have been organized and staffed by members of your secondary or postsecondary institution.